"For choosing me to be your mummy. It's an honour, a privilege and a joy.

"I kept you safe for as long as I could and I am so sorry I could not keep you safe on that night. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry."

Mrs Squire said her lowest point was having to inform her daughter's boyfriend of her death.

In a statement issued on Friday, Detective Superintendent Martin Smalley, of Humberside Police, said: "While we have considered throughout the missing person inquiry that Libby may have come to some harm, Libby's death and the recovery of her body now leads us to solely investigate as a potential homicide."

The detective said a post-mortem examination had taken place but officers would not be releasing any results "for investigative and operational reasons".

He said: "We have to protect the integrity of the investigation, which is live and very much active and ongoing, with one man who remains under investigation."

Miss Squire, who has been described as a popular student and studied philosophy at Hull University, vanished after going out with friends on January 31.

She was dropped off in a taxi near her home in Wellesley Avenue at 11.29pm and was seen on a bench near Beverley Road around 10 minutes later.